TCG is a Wilson County, Texas based citizens group that truly believe, as Thomas Jefferson did, that “when governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” Our goal is to put a healthy fear of ‘we the people’ in our Representatives. If our elected Representatives don’t respond, we will work to replace them with another who will respond to us.

New Mission Statement

May 2011

The mission of TCG is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize the citizens of Wilson and surrounding Counties to secure public policy consistent with our four core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, Free Markets, and Traditional American Values. TCG will accomplish these goals through public advocacy with the intent of positively influencing the legislative process and future elections.

Fiscal Responsibility: Fiscal Responsibility by government honors and respects the freedom of individuals to control, manage, and spend the money that is the fruit of their own labor. A constitutionally limited government, designed to protect the blessings of liberty, must be fiscally responsible or it will destroy our economy and unjustly restrict our liberty. TCG will work to ensure all government – local, state, and federal – operates in a fiscally responsible manner.

Constitutionally Limited Government: TCG believes that the purpose of the Federal Government is as stated in the Declaration of Independence, to secure each citizen’s unalienable (God given) rights. TCG also believes that the only constitutionally authorized legislative powers our government has are enumerated in Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution. We support states’ rights for those powers not expressly stated in the Constitution. We believe that it is possible to know the original intent of the government our founders set forth, and stand in support of that intent. TCG believes government that exercise powers not enumerated in the Constitution, is tyrannical and must be challenged.

Free Markets: A free market is the economic consequence of personal liberty. The founders believed that personal and economic freedom were indivisible. TCG believes, as did our Founders, in the following four laws of economic freedom: 1) the freedom to try, 2) the freedom to buy, 3) the freedom to sell, and 4) the freedom to fail. Any other governmental interference distorts the free market and inhibits the pursuit of individual and economic liberty. TCG opposes government intervention in the operations of private business.

Traditional American Values: Traditional American Values are generally conservative values which are held to promote the sound functioning of the family and to strengthen the fabric of society. They are based on virtue and morality. Our Founders believed that only a virtuous and moral people could remain free. Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” John Adams added, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” TCG will insist that policy and legislation enacted is not only constitutionally sound, but is virtuous as well.

Committees

TCG is comprised of the following three standing committees – Civic Action, Communications, and Steering – and the following two ad hoc committees – Events and Education. The ad hoc committees will be formed as the need arises. All committees work toward our goal of securing public policy consistent with our four core values and positively influencing the legislative process and future elections.

Duties and responsibilities of the three standing committees follow:

Civic Action Committee: TBD.

Communications Committee: Responsible for maintaining communications with our patriot members and other likeminded groups through periodic email blasts similar to this announcement. Additionally, it will develop and advertise a web site and Facebook account to quickly disseminate information. Responsible for communication to the community through letters to the editor and local Blog support. A subcommittee to the Communications Committee is the STAR Report. STAR is an acronym for Save the American Republic. The STAR Report will be a series of short reports that that define Constitutional authority and speak to the Founders original intent.

Steering Committee: Responsible for developing the long-term plan of TCG for approval by TCG. Responsible for developing State and National policy issues for approval by TCG. Develop and maintain contact with other Tea Party Organizations in surrounding Counties and throughout the State. Responsible for researching and disseminating information on the voting records of candidates running for office. This Committee will also develop candidate questionnaires for dissemination and candidate forums prior to elections.

Duties and responsibilities of the two ad hoc committees follow:

Education Committee: Responsible for internal (TCG) and external (community) education. Responsible for developing, advertising, scheduling, and logistically supporting Constitution and Governance classes. The citizens of Wilson County and surrounding areas need to fully understand Constitutional limitations if we are to hold our elected officials accountable.

Event Committee: On an as needed basis, plan for, organize, and logistically support events that focus on the TCG Mission and outreach. These may include future Tea Party events and other events in support of the Civic Action Committee.